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Imagine someone owed you a lot of money, but before paying it back, that person insisted that you not only reduce the amount but also change the way you conduct your affairs. OK. You are broke and desperate. You go along with the debtor's demands. Then, to top it off, you still don't get paid. This essentially encapsulates US behaviour toward the United Nations. Official Washington has traditionally seen the New York-based organisation as a weapon to promote its interests. But whenever the UN steps out of line, it incurs the disapproval and wrath of the world's superpower. April 17, 2001.
Noam Chomsky is one of the foremost intellectual figures of this era. A renowned professor at MIT for more than four decades, he has been honoured with numerous awards and degrees. He was one of the first to speak out against the Vietnam War and is known the world over for his trenchant critiques of US foreign policy and the media. For many he is a symbol of resistance to tyranny and the depredations of private and state power. Few people are more astute in decoding the realities of globalisation. He was named in by Utne Reader as one of the top 100 visionaries in the world. Utne says, "Chomsky knows who's powerful, who's abusing their power, and what they and we should do about it. Over the years he's managed to provoke left and right through his relentless critiques of US foreign policy and culture." The New Statesman calls him, "the conscience of the American people." Rolling Stone magazine says, "Chomsky has been unrelenting in his attacks on the American hierarchy ... he is up there with Thoreau and Emerson in the literature of rebellion." A recent survey ranked Prof. Chomsky as the most cited living author. He is the author of scores of books, including Class Warfare, Powers and Prospects, The Common Good and The Prosperous Few and the Restless Many. He is the subject of an award-winning documentary film entitled Manufacturing Consent. He is in such demand as a public speaker that he is booked years in advance, and everywhere he goes he draws overflow audiences.
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